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Fan Staying on

My daughter drove up to Flagstaff (7000ft) yesterday and was going out to a restaraunt with her fiance tonight, so she parked the car, turned it off, got out (key in hand) and noticed that something was still running.

At first she thought it was the engine, but when she got back in and tried to start the car, the motor engaged the flywheel and started the engine. When she turned it off this time, everything shut down normally.

I suspect from my perch in Phoenix, that it was the radiator fan still running. I had a search here (no luck) in the manual pdf file (Ctrl F - nice feature) and even googled it. The only thing I saw was in some older model Fiesta's, the relays were known to stick from time to time.

Any ideas?

This is likely an intermittant problem that may not even happen again, but...

It can be normal on a lot of cars. There are quite a few posts about it ranging across all auto makers on the internet. The theory is that when the car is shut off, the engine coolant might still be too hot. So, the fan will run for a bit to lower temperature, even if the car is shut off.

There seems to be varying thoughts of whether going up to 7,000 ft is still "safe" i.e. won't create much of an issue with driving. Some seem to say it's fine on other vehicles; others say if the driving is slow there might an issue.

I'd say make a note of it, and maybe have it looked at when you get your next servicing done. If it does it a few more times, it might be wise to have it checked out sooner.

My daughter drove up to Flagstaff (7000ft) yesterday and was going out to a restaraunt with her fiance tonight, so she parked the car, turned it off, got out (key in hand) and noticed that something was still running.

At first she thought it was the engine, but when she got back in and tried to start the car, the motor engaged the flywheel and started the engine. When she turned it off this time, everything shut down normally.

I suspect from my perch in Phoenix, that it was the radiator fan still running. I had a search here (no luck) in the manual pdf file (Ctrl F - nice feature) and even googled it. The only thing I saw was in some older model Fiesta's, the relays were known to stick from time to time.

Any ideas?

This is likely an intermittant problem that may not even happen again, but...

Mine does fan when the A/C compressor is ON, even in cool weather like 60F of outside temprature.

I'll be keeping an eye on it, odd that it would happen during a short trip in Flag, where it's quite cold and not on the 180 mile trip up the hill (1000ft --> 7000ft). I wonder if it threw a code?

We had a Dodge Aries that was designed to have the fan run for a couple of minutes after the engine shut off, to try and cool the engine compartment down. It got to the wife after moving to Phoenix, so I disconnected the temperature sensor behind the fan which stopped it from running. It was fine. Probably can't do that on this car though without it coding.

Didn't see that in the Fiesta owners manual, so I assumed it was not meant to happen. Doing a Ctrl+Shift+F does the advanced adobe search and after typing in "fan" it shows where the fuse and relay are. So R5 will be the relay to check if it happens again.

Now I just have to find the fuse box - is that it to the right of the battery?? That will make it easy.

My fan keeps running for a few minutes after I kill the ignition. But it only does it when it's warm to hot outside, or if the engine has had to work excessively hard. It startled me too, the first time I noticed it.

My fan keeps running for a few minutes after I kill the ignition. But it only does it when it's warm to hot outside, or if the engine has had to work excessively hard. It startled me too, the first time I noticed it.

I thought all modern car have thermostatically actuated fans now days. One of the reasons they say to disconnect the battery before doing any work under the hood.

Used to be the fan would run, even with the ignition off until the engine cooled down. I do not believe that to be the case with todays cars, due to safety requirements.
Checked with the service department at your dealer.

A few things were missing from the original post.
What was the ambient temperature. Even Flagstaf can get hot.
The altitude should have no affect. Many cars run at that altitude or higher all the time.
Slow driving may turn the fan on.
Did the fan turn itself off after a while ? If not, how did you stop it.
Look at the tach to see if the engine is running, before trying to restart.

..... she parked the car, turned it off, got out (key in hand) and noticed that something was still running.
At first she thought it was the engine, but when she got back in and tried to start the car, the motor engaged the flywheel and started the engine. When she turned it off this time, everything shut down normally.
I suspect from my perch in Phoenix, that it was the radiator fan still running....
This is likely an intermittant problem that may not even happen again, but...

Hey RichBinAZ,

Your hunch may be on the money.

The new fans are controlled by the PCM and if needed can stay on for a short time after the Fiesta is shut off. This does not happen often, but it can and is normal.